Why
by otterlily
Summary: Deidara and the other Akatsukis struggle to survive in a futuristic world. AU sasoxdeiMy first fic! I'm waiting for one review to put the next chapter up... I don't own any of the naruto characters... Rated m for later lemons with sasori and deidara!
1. Chapter 1

_Why?_

Sunset. The beauty of it so striking, so vivid, that it practically screams to be looked at. The air stands still and even the most talkative bird shuts up for this one moment every day. A flaming red sun paints the sky in hues of pink and red as well as shades of majestic yellow, painting the sleepy streets coated in snow a wonderfully warm shade of gold. Yet, amid all of the splendor, amid all of the beauty, only one stops to appreciate the amazing display of art mother nature is putting on for the enjoyment of all. The small, dirty, blonde child doesn't stand still and look for long, no its too cold for that. He keeps moving, looking for a likely targets pocket to pick.

The child sees a good candidate: a woman with a fox fur around her large shoulders, several golden rings on her fat fingers, and a satiny, fur lined coat barely holding her tremendous girth. He races forward in a flash and grabs the bag that had been hanging from her thick wrist, so temptingly. She screeches at him to stop and swipes at him with her free hand, but too slow. The little blonde boy is already gone with his loot leaving the street, except for the churned footprints in the snow, as if he had never been there.

Dodging down a side ally and hurdling along the length of the path, he comes to a fork in his path, but not hesitating for an instant he takes the left one, running a ways, and then springing into a crack in the wall. Suddenly, almost as if he had walked through a door into a different world, he was surrounded by perforated green light, shining gently through the spreading leaves above his head. He smiles walking through out the ancient, serene forest, his long blonde hair, unwashed for the longest time, swaying with his gently set pace. He was purposely walking slow, of course, he had all the time in the world. _They_ didn't expect him until much later that night and with a much smaller prize. He stops, remembering the purse for the first time in a while. He opens it, to find it filled with _womanly _things. A few, long tubes wrapped in paper (girls you know this one all too well even if he doesn't), a couple of thin squares of some spongy material (again, too familiar), chap stick, a note pad, a pen... the list seemed to be endless as the number of items on the ground grew quickly.

"How does she fit all of this in her purse, hmm?!," he asked in frustration," It doesn't look this big on the outside. This looked like an easy snag, hmm!"

Finally, in frustration he upended it over the ground near his feet (he was sitting cross-legged on the ground) and searched through the considerable pile, knocking things aside, and tossing things he deemed 'useless' in a pile behind him. This pile contained the plastic wrapped tubes, thin squishy squares, and many other feminine hygiene products. After a considerably short time he seems to find what he's looking for. With a cry of "jackpot" he holds up a small bulging, wallet-like item, and, after opening it and seeing the large sum of money inside, decides that this is definitely what he's looking for. After scooping up all of the items he had tossed and/or thrown out of the bag back into their holder, he sets off into the forest.

Compared to the weather in the city, the forest is gentle and sunny, if not warm. There isn't a single trace of snow on the ground, and , even though in the city the sun was setting, it was noon. The difference in time and temperature didn't seem to phase the boy, though he did take off his raged sweatshirt and tie it around his waist. He also didn't seem to have any certain direction he was headed in either, no his path meandered between trees, over rocks, through streams, under branches, and other various features of a forest in full spring. Flowers were trampled and grass bent as he beat a path through the seemingly untouched forest. He seemed to be paying more attention now as he searched for something a little above his eye line. Finally, a red mark appeared on a tree ahead. He raced towards it, taking out a pair of strange, sleek glasses that were as out of place in the forest as he was at a high class party.

Sliding them on he seemed a bit shocked at the difference of the two areas and almost seemed tempted to remove the strange eye wear from the bridge of his nose. He refrained, however, taking in the truth of the place he was in. Instead of beautifully gurgling streams, there were sludge filled gullies and craters, but they seemed to be in the correct place. Where mighty, trees had towered seconds before, large poles jutted at awkward angles as well as war-torn pieces of rubble tearing holes in an already horrid picture. The formerly mossy rocks were gone, replaced by, jagged pieces of cars and buildings as well as other, more grisly things. The small boy shook himself, thinking that even if it was awful, it was the truth.


	2. Chapter 2

_Why?_

Desolation

Desolation. Destruction as far as the eye could see stretched in every direction as the small child walked onward to some destination known only to him. The desolate, rubble covered wasteland, continued as he threaded his way between the remnants of sky scrapers, vehicles of all types, and abandoned furniture, toys and other things of little or no value. He stopped when he heard a gentle crunching noise that sounded like human footsteps. Immediately he dodged as quietly as he could under an over-hang of what he could only identify as what had once been pavement that had been torn up by some extreme force. Crouching in the shelter he watched a set of legs go by. The shoes seemed familiar in some way as did the pants. Whoever had been following him stopped and was obviously looking for him.

"Deidara, where are you?" A worried voice called out in a hoarse, obviously concerned whisper. "Damn it, Deidara, I know you're there! We need to get back to the hideout; Orochimaru and his gang are out for blood because we jumped Kabuto! We never should have hurt him in the first place, but Pein said we had to and… well… just come on! I have to get you out of here fast; I don't want you to get hurt!"

"Sasori, is that you?" the little boy, who's name was obviously Deidara, said cautiously.

"Who do you think it is the Easter bunny? Seriously, Deidara, sometimes I think that all the lights aren't on upstairs," exclaimed Sasori," it's no wonder Pein asked me to keep an eye on you! Gees, you're worse than Sakura sometimes."

"Well… who said I wanted you to look after me, hmm?! Exclaimed Deidara," I don't need you to care about me, I don't want you to, hmm! You're always followin' me and actin' like I'll die if you leave me alone for even a minute! I'm sick and tired of people acting like I'm going to break if they even look at me wrong, hmm! I've been through all the same crap as all of the guys, maybe even more than most of them! Nobody, treats Itachi like this, not even Kisame, hmm… So… why me?" he finished in a quiet, resigned tone that held almost none of the fury he had just spoken with.

"…" was the only answer he received from the red head whose name was, from what Deidara had said, Sasori. They stood there for quite some time; Deidara waiting for an answer and Sasori standing (sorry cant resist) like a bump on a log, only a log probably wouldn't have had such a blank, emotionless face on.

"Ku ku ku, isn't this adorable, eh Kimimaro, it's really hard to believe that that adorable little blonde boy is really one of the punks who hurt pore, innocent Kabuto," came an eerie voice from behind them.

Immediately they turned and stared in horror at the six people standing menacingly behind them. Deidara only recognized one of them: Orochimaru!

"Run!" Sasori shouted, finding his voice at last," split up and get away from here!" With that, he sprinted off in a random direction that led away from the snake-like rapist and his gang. Deidara ran in a different direction, hearing feet pounding close behind him.

Vaulting over the hood of a partially destroyed car and dodging through mazes of rubble, Deidara strove to lose his pursuers. He risked a backwards glance and saw that he was being chased by the tall, grey haired man with red dots above his eyes as well as red eyeliner around them. There was also a fat man whose orange hair was beginning to recede and a short girl with pink hair reaching about to her shoulders. Deidara turned back around to avoid tripping on anything. He shuddered at the thought of what they would do to him.

Suddenly a black haired man with six arms jumped in front of him and nearly hit him over the head with a metal pipe. The weird man swung his pipe again and Deidara narrowly avoided the hit. He saw a red blur to his right and whirled around to face his new attacker, only to find Sasori punching the big man in the stomach and avoiding hits from the pipe and five other arms. Deidara attacked the big, balding man, jumping onto his back and pummeling him with his fists over the head.

The big man managed to get a hold of him and pulled him off of him, tossing Deidara to the ground like a rag doll. Deidara watched helplessly as he raised his foot to stomp on his stomach, when suddenly sasori, yet again a red blur, threw himself, shoulder first, into the fat man knocking him to the ground. The pink haired woman launched herself at him and put him in a headlock as he rammed his back into anything near in a desperate attempt to dislodge her.

"Run, Deidara! I can handle this! Go get leader-san and the rest of the gang, I'll be fine 'till you get back, don't worry," Sasori managed to gasp out through the tight hold the girl had on his windpipe. The big man was getting up to rejoin the fray as Deidara ran off to do as he was told.

Sasori was hit rather hard in the stomach and hit the ground in a tangled heap with the pink haired flunky still choking him and the balding man kicking him in his stomach repeatedly. He could see the weird black haired man saying something but could not hear what was being said. His vision was going dark around the edges as the pressure on his throat finally lessened and then disappeared all together. He regained the ability to hear just in time to make out the last part of what a voice that sounded chillingly like the snake rapist's was saying.

"-and then when they come for him we'll take them all out at once. What do you think Kimimaro?"

Sasori felt a horrible feeling of dread settle in his stomach as his hands were bound behind his back while he was still too oxygen deprived to put up much of a fight. He caught sight of his captor's leering faces before a foul smelling sack was shoved over his head and the drawstring tightened just enough to keep it in place.


	3. Chapter 3

_Why?_

No!

Terror. Indescribable panic closing in, seemingly from every direction, as a small boy with long blonde hair raced forward, pumping his arms and stretching his legs out as far as they would go. His breath came in ragged gasps, his eyes were wide, and beads of sweat dripped slowly down his face, leaving a trail through the dirt coating it. Deidara's face was red and his limbs were starting to ache, but still he pushed himself forward struggling to push himself to greater and greater efforts until it became a chore just to stand up. Never, in his entire life had he run so hard for so long and far. He also knew that he would not last much longer.

Almost as if agreeing with his thoughts, the boys legs crumpled and he collapsed in a gasping heap on the dusty ground. His eyes began to droop, he was so tired that he could no longer see clearly and everything around him sounded as if he had clapped his hands over his ears. The only thing keeping him awake was the dull, steady throbbing of his limbs, and even that wasn't going to keep him awake for long…

"NOOO!" he screamed, waking himself up. "I have to get back to the hideout! I can't leave Sasori all alone out there!" With that he forced himself onto his feet once more, whimpering in pain, and began to stagger towards a dilapidated building just thirty yards away.

He was so close to his goal and yet so very far and in so very much pain that he couldn't even breath. The yards were crawling by, slower than unmotivated snails, almost taunting him as he labored to take each step, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other and nothing more.

Twenty yards. Deidara had never known anything as simple as walking could hurt this much!

Fifteen yards. I think I'm going to die, Deidara thought, barely feeling anything anymore. He looked up, in doing so he noticed he had been looking at the ground as he walked for a while now, and saw that he had drawn closer to the old building.

Ten yards. Deidara began feeling a small surge of energy, probably just enough to help him stagger to the door and collapse inside. Unconsciously, he began to walk faster.

Five yards.

Three yards.

One yard. He was so close to the building that he could see the spider web cracks running along the gray plaster walls, when suddenly his legs locked, and he fell, too tired to go on, and too drained to even pull himself into the shadow of the doorway. He simply lay on the ground slowly sinking into the deep dark sleep that only truly exhausted people experience, otherwise known as the sleep of the damned.

Sasori awoke to much pain in his neck, the bag was still on, and felt that he was lying on rough, cold stone. He realized how cold he was and decided he must have been asleep for several hours. He began to wriggle slightly, trying to undo the thick, tight knots that were cutting off the circulation to his hands.

"Damn it!" he cursed quietly as his struggles were only managing to pull the knots tighter, "Just a little more and they'll be lose. That's all I want! Just enough so that my hands don't fall off, that's all I want."

After what felt like, and probably was, hours, Sasori finally managed to loosen the knots enough so that a violent tug pulled his hands free. He nearly bit his tongue of when he felt the pop of one of his fingers. Even after so much struggling had worn away at the knots, his hands still got terrible rope burn from pulling them out of the bonds. After yanking the sack from his head, he clutched his hands in his lap and leaned over them slightly rocking back and forth, silently bearing the pain. He felt a sticky wetness around his wrists and the rest of the skin on his hands burned as if he had stuck them into a volcano.

It shouldn't hurt this much, he decided, and gritting his teeth, he pulled his hands up to look at them and gasped. He wretched at the site of the oozing blisters that coated his wrists; even the slightest movement popped the sores and sent new waves of pus and occasionally blood pouring from them. The skin on the backs and palms of his hands were the least hurt, surviving with mere burns and only stinging a little, but the skin on his knuckles was nearly as bad as his wrists. Most of the joints were cracked open and bleeding, not all the wounds being from the ropes. Two of his fingers felt broken, one he decided was from his fight with the snake rapist's flunkies. The other must have been from when he pulled the ropes off his hands.

Both fingers were on the same hand: his left. He felt the first finger. He realized it really was broken when he nearly screamed after just brushing over it to see if it was still in one piece. The other finger, his ring finger, didn't hurt quite so much, so he continued to feel it. The finger lay at an odd angle and wiggled around much more than it was supposed to. It was only dislocated.

Steeling himself for what he was about to do, he gripped his finger and pulled sharply on it. White stars erupted in his vision and he grunted as the finger snapped back into place with a gut wrenching pop. Tears slowly leaked from beneath his eyes as the pain in the digit slowly lessened. As soon as that pain was gone, the other finger became almost unbearable. He gently held it as straight as he could then pulled it back into place, biting his lip until it bled to keep himself from screaming.

Sasori didn't understand, he'd broken his leg before. It was a splinter compared to the agony he was in over a finger. Either he was getting weaker, or his finger was worse off than he had first thought.

At least my arms and legs are all right, he reasoned with himself, now, if need be, I can run when I get the chance. He curled up on the floor trying not to scrape his sores on the ground and avoid touching his finger. He would take stock of his surroundings later, when he woke up. For now, he would sleep even more deeply than Deidara.


	4. Chapter 4

Why

_Why?_

What the HELL?!

Pain. A slow dull-beating agony slipping quietly through the dreams of a young redheaded boy. He whimpered as he opened his eyes and struggled to keep his throbbing wrists elevated from the dirty, frigid ground. As the memory of the previous day returned to him, he pushed himself up, using his right hand, and glanced around the boring, grey cell that was his prison.

The place was dark and slightly damp. A dark, grey stone seemed to be the building material used for the floor and ceiling. Silvery metal bars made up one wall and when Sasori looked more closely, he could see that the door was set into the metal bar wall. The door bore an old-looking lock. From where sasori sat, he could see just how dirty the floor was. It was covered in a light layer of dirt accompanied by a few months worth of wet, grimy dust. This was lightly accented by a thick layer of moss that grew along the part of the floor and two of the three stone walls. The room was dimly lit by a single window at about his eye level that was also barred. Most of the metal was coated in a light layer of rust. In short: the place was a dump.

Sasori shifted so that he would be able to see out of the window. The sky was a beautiful, bright blue permeated lightly with clouds. Occasionally, a bird would fly overhead and Sasori would be struck with a pang of envy. If he could fly then maybe he wouldn't be in this hell-hole. Afterwards he would mentally laugh at himself. He wanted to try to see some of the scenery that might be out there. He craned his neck, scooted forward, and looked outside.

The same picture greeted him. Birds flying overhead. White clouds. Blue sky. Blue eyes staring at him.

As he focused he saw the bright blue eyes and pale face that had been there the entire time staring at him. His tired eyes had seen the blue eyes, pale skin, and bright blond hair and decided that it was the sky, a cloud, and the sun shining on the cloud. It wasn't. It was a girl, staring down at him like he was a bug under a magnifying glass. Sasori was so shocked that he stared right back at her, completely unfazed by the fact that he hadn't seen her originally.

She smiled. The smile split her face in two and narrowed her eyes making them sparkle more. It seemed like she was laughing silently at Sasori with her big, friendly, open-mouthed smile. He couldn't help it. He smiled back. She seemed nice.

Her facial expression slowly changed to concern as she surveyed his predicament. Her eyes grew a slightly clouded look and she chewed her bottom lip, as she thought about something. She leaned foreword, pushed her head through the bars, the bars were wide enough for her head but not her shoulders, and motioned him with a finger. He attempted to stand up. After that attempt failed, he scooted forward on his butt, getting close enough for them to whisper to each other.

"Hi, I'm Lili," she whispered through the bars. "What are you doing in here?"

"Oh, I'm just on vacation. This is my penthouse suit. What do you think I'm doing in here?! I'm in a locked cell!" He whispered all of this fiercely at her while shifting forward to sit on his knees.

"Finally! I can rescue someone with a sense of humor! Yes, score!" She said quietly while laughing and smiling her big, face-splitting smile.

"What?" Sasori was getting more confused about this girl than ever. "What the HELL do you mean?! Are you crazy or something?"

She looked him straight in the eye and whispered: "Maybe. Listen, I'm going to get you out of here. Hold on just one second." With that said, she disappeared.

"Wait," Sasori called after her, "Don't leave me here!" It came out a second too late. She was gone.

He leaned back, shifting onto his butt again to wait for her to come back. The minutes ticked by slowly, stopping to chat with one another before they slipped by, one by one. Sasori grew lonely. Where was that weird girl? Why had she thought that she could get him out of this place, it seemed like a fortress!

He heard a distant, metallic groaning sound, like ancient metal being bent out of place by some unstoppable force. Sasori froze. Was this someone coming to check on him? Were they coming to torture him? Was the building going to fall in on him? When he heard no more noise from that direction, he calmed down. He began to answer his own questions. Yes, someone would probably come and check on him soon and take him to the creepy old man. And yes, they would more than likely torture him. Most likely the building he was in was old enough to fall down, so it was a possibility that it would collapse on him, though he would rather not think about that. The thought of never being able to see Deidara again made him shiver in fear.

He realized that that was the first time he had thought about the little blond boy since his capture. He really did like the boy, more than enough to be considered love. He was just a little stubborn and didn't like Sasori trying to take care of him. All Sasori **wanted** to do was take care of the boy. That proposed a bit of a problem. He was wondering idly if Deidara had been able to make it back to the hideout when he caught a flicker of movement in his peripheral vision. Sasori whirled around to see Lili standing in front of him on the other side of the barred wall waving with her too big-for-her-face smile and her eyes extra bright.

Sasori tried to stand again, only to stagger over and fall on his side. His previously forgotten sores broke open and began to ooze again. Tears streamed from his eyes as he sat up and gripped his wrist, trying to ease the pain a little. He heard a clinking sound, a few wheezing, grinding sounds, and a reverberating screech as Lili unlocked the door and slid it open with some difficulty.

She ran over to him and knelt down, gently pulling his wrist from his hand. She held his arm just higher up than where the wrist sores were. After looking over the scrapes on his knuckles and backs of his hands, she looked down and winced at the sight of his right wrist. Carefully examining every inch of the wrist, she noted that half of the sores were infected and probably deep enough to be spreading into his blood.

She gently set that hand down onto his lap and tenderly lifted his left hand noting the roughly repositioned finger, she would have to fix that later, and the other broken finger. That one would be a bit more annoying to handle. He had split it along the bone and would need a cast for sure. She moved down to the many sores on his left wrist, which were as bad as, if not worse than, the ones on his right one.

"How did you manage to do this to yourself, you reject?!" She exclaimed quietly. "Damn, these fingers of yours **have** to hurt. Hold on, I'll do what I can."

"What are you going to do?" Sasori asked suspiciously.

"I'm going to fix the disjointed finger and then try to bind up the worst sores of the sores on your wrists, o.k.? Please don't hate me." After saying that, she firmly grasped the finger that had been dislocated and gently pulled, keeping her other hand clamped tightly over Sasori's mouth. Slowly, Lili maneuvered the finger back into its proper place, narrowing her eyes in pity at Sasori's muffled but still agonized screams. Tears began to stream down his face as she finally let go of him, satisfied that the finger was in the right place.

"Are you alright?" She asked quietly, ashamed of hurting the boy. "Did I hurt you too much?"

"No, I'm fine," was the weak reply. It didn't do anything to make her feel better.

As she began tearing strips of cloth from her bright blue shirt, Sasori noticed what she was wearing for the first time. The shirt's sleeves came down to her elbows and the hem brushed her knees. She wore khaki pants that cut off a few inches below her knees and hugged her legs. Her tennis shoes were gun-metal grey.

The girl had experience at being a doctor, it was obvious from the way she tenderly wrapped his wrists in the cloth from her too-big-shirt. She didn't just wrap the worst of his sores, she bandaged them all. Sasori winced slightly as she pulled the cool fabric tighter around his wrist.

She clucked her tongue and looked around. She reached into her pockets and dug, reaching in deep trying to find what she was looking for. Sasori was too busy being in pain to notice her triumphant 'aha'.

"Hey, kid," she spoke softly, looking into his eyes. "Will you do something for me?" Without waiting for an answer she asked him, "I want you to tell me your name, o.k.? Can you do that?"

"Yeah," Sasori mumbled, dazed from pain. "My name's Sasori." He couldn't see her hands so he didn't anticipate what she was doing until she was doing it. She had gently grabbed his broken finger, pulled it straight, and begun the process of holding it straight with a small, thin stick on either side of the digit. Sasori grunted in pain but didn't move; he was far too tired.

"That's a nice name, Sasori," Lili was then quickly tying the sticks to his finger. "Do you have any friends?"

"Yeah, I have a bunch- OW! MOTHER FUCK!!" He exclaimed as she tightened one of the final knots. This one was directly over the break.

"How many friends, Sasori? What are they like?" She said quickly, trying to distract him from the pain.

The boy sounded tired and out of it when he spoke. "Yeah. There's Deidara. He's really great. He's got these hellish blue eyes that you can get lost in and long blond hair that's really soft. He keeps it up in a pony-tail high up on top of his head. When he smiles at you it's like the whole world stops… and you just get… lost and want to… want to go to sleep… and never… wake… up…" Nearing the end of his description Sasori began slowing down until he finally fell asleep.

Lili smiled as she picked the boy up and slung him over her back. She walked out of the cell, closing and locking it behind her. As she strolled leisurely down the hall, she felt the weight of the boy on her back and frowned slightly. He was much too light. While she searched for the place she had entered, Lili made a mental note to tell his friends to feed him more. She rounded the corner and saw the place where she had gotten in.

It was a barred window, much like the one in Sasori's cell, only with slightly more space between the bars. Also, two of the bars were bent horribly out of place. Lili calmly walked over to the window, then gently pulled Sasori from her back and carefully maneuvered him outside, pushing his unconscious form slightly to the left. She then grasped the edge, pulled herself up, athletically swung through the gap, landed on her feet, and then turned to face the window again. Grasping the two bent bars in a business-like manner she pulled them and effortlessly bent the bars back into, more or less, the same shape.

After picking Sasori up again, she began to walk away from the hideout as if she had all the time in the world. From the outside, the building looked like, and probably was, an old prison.

The sun was sinking lower in the sky when Lili sensed the strangers. The young woman remembered the feel of the footsteps of every person she ever met. These were all new. There were about ten of them, spread out and heading in the direction of Orochimaru's hideout. These must be Sasori's friends; she thought. **But** just to be safe… I should test them! This could be fun.

She began to run toward the group with the largest number of footsteps. She also felt the smallest set of feet there so maybe this might be Sasori's Deidara. As she neared a rock outcrop a good twenty or so yards in front of them, she slowed down. Hiding behind the large rocks, she listened.

A young voice, most likely Deidara's, was the first she heard. "Kisame, are you sure Orochimaru's hideout is near here, hmm? We've been walking for hours and I think we should have found it by now."

"Yes, Deidara, I'm sure," came a deep, grating, and slightly annoyed voice. Kisame.

"He may have a point, Kisame; we **have** been traveling for a long time now and found nothing. I doubt any of the others have found anything either. Maybe we should change course a bit." This voice was smooth with a dangerous undertone that was barely audible.

"No, Itachi! Pein said it was in this direction so we're going in this direction! I want to find Sasori as much as both of you do and the sooner we stop talking, the sooner we can get back to searching. This is the only direction we know to search in so I say we keep searching in it." So, Kisame was a bit of a control freak. It didn't bother Lili that much. She now knew the name of the third man. Itachi; sounded like an interesting kind of guy.

She decided that it was time to test them. She only hoped they wouldn't attack her; it would be difficult to defend herself and the still unconscious Sasori if things got hairy. With those last thoughts, she stepped from behind rock and confronted the people.

"Actually, I agree with Kisame. He's right. I just came back from that direction and there was definitely a hideout with a boy named Sasori in it. Looks like I was lucky to find you." She said all of this with a twinkle in her eye and a light, trust-worthy smile on her face. The twinkle intensified as she watched their reactions. The black haired one, she supposed it was Itachi, raised his eyebrows and stepped back. From the tone of his voice she had guessed that he was a pretty emotionless kind of guy. Something that did surprise her though, was the fact that he was blind. Go figure. Kisame, who else but the big blue man, leapt back and started sputtering something along the lines of 'how did you know my name' and 'only a demon could move that quietly'. The small, blond Deidara boy's reaction was her favorite. His eyes widened until they took up half of his face and he shouted a joyful 'Sasori! You saved him!' As he shouted the 'you saved him' part, he ran forward and hugged her waste.

Lili grinned, disentangled herself from the blond child, and moved forward to set Sasori down. After she did so, she told them about the infection that had probably spread to his blood and that he needed to go to a hospital to be checked on.

As she walked away she cried back aver her shoulder, still grinning "Oh and you'll want to feed him a little more! He's just skin and bones!"

Kisame picked Sasori up and headed in the opposite direction after saying, "Deidara, blow the whistle now. We need to let them know that Sasori is with us."

Deidara complied blowing a shrill little whistle whose cry would probably carry over miles.

They all headed back to the hideout with lighter hearts. Deidara could finally rest. Sasori was coming home!


	5. Chapter 5

Why

_Why?_

Sick

Awareness. Slowly creeping in upon an unconscious mind as its owner lay weak and defenseless in bed. A small, sickly looking boy opened his eyes to a blurred, pale world that was unfamiliar to him. The redhead slowly felt the world settle back into its original place. As he felt the room stop spinning, he sat up. Big mistake. He fell back as fresh waves of dizziness crashed over him, slowly pulling him under. His last thought was: Where is Deidara?

The boy in question was sitting just outside the room on a hard bench in the sterile smelling hospital clinic. The blind man, Itachi, sat beside him. Deidara's head hung in his hands as the worry and guilt slowly washed over him. If Sasori-danna hadn't gotten captured to save me, he wouldn't be in this mess. If I had gotten to the hideout earlier, we could have met that Lili girl sooner! The blond boy slowly drowned in his own guilt and sorrow as Itachi watched, or rather felt.

"Deidara, relax. Sasori is tough. There is no way that a simple infection could do anything to bring him down. Stop worrying, everything will be fine." The blind man spoke the words of comfort in a soothing voice and gently patted the blonde's head. He looked down at him with the look of an experienced big brother in his eyes.

"Do you really think so, hmm?" Deidara asked, with the despair plain in his voice. "I've never seen Sasori-danna look so small and pale… He looks weak and vulnerable right now. Anything could happen, hmm, and it would be my fault that it did."

"Deidara. I am blind. I can't **see** anything the way you do. I see the world through what I hear, feel, and smell. Think about this, I went blind shortly before he arrived, I've never seen Sasori at all. But I have heard his voice and felt his footsteps and caught his faint scent on the wind. With that I can form a picture. I know his personality and I have a pretty good idea about the way he thinks. I add that to the picture. In a way, I see Sasori clearer than you, or anyone else with eyes that work, does. I his true self. I strongly believe that he will make it through this. Just be patient, Deidara, and stop worrying about things you can't control or change, you'll only tire yourself out." After Itachi's little speech ended, Deidara stared at him openmouthed. This was the most the boy had ever heard him say at one time before.

"O.k. Itachi, I'll take your word for it," Deidara hardly managed to get the words around his smile. "By the way, just out of curiosity, what do you see Sasori-danna as?"

"I see… He's always standing next to you. He's tall and well muscled and his arm is always around you. I don't know why I see things the way I do, but usually they come true when I see them in my head. I don't know, it might be me just misreading things, but whenever you two are in the same room, I feel your pulses go through the roof and you're always slightly more awkward. I believe I am the only one to notice so far. Your pulse is doing it again." Itachi smiled to himself as he said the last thing. When he had revealed that he was aware of Deidara's feelings.

Deidara began to stutter and his pulse accelerated to an even higher rate. "I-I-I d-don't… h-h-how… wha… hmm?" Itachi smiled even wider and chuckled lightly.

"Deidara, you don't have to defend yourself from me. I know for a fact that you like him; now all you have to do is bring that fact to his attention. I'll help you confess when he is feeling better. That would make his day."

"…o.k.…." Deidara had been on the point of disagreeing vehemently with Itachi, yelling that it wasn't true when his curiosity got the better of him. He wanted to know if Itachi was telling him that Sasori liked him just because he wanted him to feel better or if it was true.

"Good. We might have a little while to wait, though. Sasori may be tough, but he sounds like his breathing is screwed up just a little. He might be a few weeks getting all the way back to normal. We'll tell him then." Itachi seemed to be enjoying the conversation.

Deidara on the other hand, felt like the date of his execution had just been signed. And he was the one that had done the signing… These next few weeks were going to be pretty horrifying…


End file.
